Erosion Hazards of Monterey County, California, 2001

This polygon shapefile depicts hazardous areas of relative soil erosion for Monterey County, California. Erosion can be defined as the wearing away of the land surface by flowing water, waves, or wind, or by such process as mass wasting and corrosion. Water and wind erosion are important in assessing the health of the soil and in assessing the soil's potential for different uses. Removal of increasing amounts of soil increasingly alters various properties and capabilities of the soil. Properties and qualities affected include bulk density, permeability, organic matter content, tilth, and can degrade surface water quality. In Monterey County, farming is a major source of employment and revenue; hence, protecting the county's soil resources is important. This layer is part of a collection describing Geology resources and constraints Monterey County, California. The purpose of this map is to provide a comparison of relative soil erosion hazards for regional planning studies. This layer is presented in the WGS84 coordinate system for web display purposes. Downloadable data are provided in native coordinate system or projection.